By Benjamin Bullard
The Cullman Times
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A longtime Decatur school board member will be seeking the Republican nomination for the state school board seat representing Cullman and surrounding counties.
Dr. Charles Elliott, who served on the Decatur Board of Education from 1996 to 2008, said he is seeking the state district 6 school board seat to bring conscientious leadership to public education in an lean economic period when every dollar counts.
Elliott said he would work to effect changes in how the state forecasts its annual education budget based on projected revenues.
“When you look at how Alabama does its budgeting, it’s feast or famine,” Elliott said. “When things are good, we budget as if they are always going to be good, and for that time, we do well.
“But,” he added, “when the wheels come off the cart with the economy, we blow right through the rainy day fund—and then we start getting into proration. Rather than doing a budgeting process—a really good budgeting process that really looks very carefully at receipts, and what we can do by implementing best practices—we just do feast or famine. We have got to examine that.”
By necessity, the promise of free public education for all obligates the state board to consider elementary and secondary schools as its top priority, but Elliott said that does not absolve the board from fully committing both funding and political will to higher education.
“In philosophy, education in our state is prioritized from the bottom up, in that every decision that comes out of the state board has got to be based on what’s best for the children in the classroom,” said Elliott. “That sounds really simplistic. But even though everything revolves around teaching that student in the classroom, the milieu of public education also affects that student.
“My grounding is strongly K-12. I was a school board member for 12 years and that is part of my foundation. But the college presidents I’ve talked with have been very good at looking at their educational costs. And I think they make a very, very persuasive argument that it does take more money to educate one of their students. The question of autonomy in administering funds is something I’ve talked to all the presidents about, and they make a compelling argument.”
As the district 6 representative, Elliott pledged to work beyond the parameters of his job description to give educators in his area a voice when advocating for issues that sometimes only indirectly affect schools. That includes issues like the ADEM-scrutinized sewer system in Hanceville, which threatens to stymie capital improvements at Wallace State Community College in the near term.
“I stressed with my college presidents that, if something’s coming down the pipe that’s important to them, or if there is something that needs to come to my attention, they need to pick up the phone and give me a call,” he said. “I think it would be incumbent on an education official—especially a member of the state board—to call congressman Aderholt’s office or call the senator’s office on their behalf on this or any issue tangential to education.”
Elliott summarized by describing himself as “an activist kind of school board member.”
“I believe you can just choose to show up at board meetings and do your business, or you can actually try to make a difference in how education is done in the state of Alabama,” said Elliott. “When I was on the board of directors of the state school board association, I did a lot of things I didn’t have to do. I went to Washington twice to speak on behalf of issues that related to Alabama education. I made untold visits to Montgomery to lobby legislators on public education issues. That’s the kind of representation this state has to have.”
District 6 encompasses Cullman, Morgan, Marshall, and Blount counties, as well as the northwestern portion of St. Clair County and a section of suburban Jefferson and Shelby Counties.
Ron Stone of Holly Pond is also seeking the Republican nomination for the district 6 school board seat. The winner will face Democratic candidate Kimberly Harbin Drake of Cullman, who is running unopposed in her party’s primary election June 1. Incumbent David Byers is not seeking re-election.
* Benjamin Bullard can be reached by e-mail at bbullard@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 270.
